Bake Off's Back......ALRIGHT!

20 Aug 2013

I do hope you enjoyed my Backstreet Boys inspired title ;) As you may have guessed, I am extremely happy that The Great British Bake Off is back on our screens! Its literally one of my favourite TV shows ever. Of all time. In the world. ....

To mark the occasion I thought I'd make some tasty treats to add to my viewing experience and I thought I'd share them with you :) I decided to make Salted Caramel Tuffles (from Edd Kimbers Say It With Cake) and Macadamia Nut Blondies (from Sainsburys Baking Recipe Collection). Annoyingly I forgot to take photos whilst making the truffles - to be honest it was a pretty intense experience! But here's how they ended up:

I realise they look a little dishevelled - but hey, since when have truffles looked perfect? They were pretty easy to make, just super messy once you start creating the individual balls! But they're so yummy, so I recommend checking out Edd Kimber's recipe.

When making the Macadamia Nut Blondies however, I did remember to document! So here we go :)

To start with, preheat your oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas Mark 4 and line a 36x24cm baking tray with parchment making sure the paper goes up the sides of the tray. Then you want to whisk together the butter and sugar. The recipe states that you should do this with an electric hand mixer, but if you're like me and had forgotten that you'd lent the mixer to your sister the week before, a normal hand whisk works fine too!

Once you've killed your arm (if you whisked by hand!) add the eggs one at a time, whisking between each addition - then add the vanilla extract.

Then add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix to combine until you have a smooth consistency. Finally add in the nuts, coconut and chocolate.

Spread the mixture out in the tray as evenly as you can - if you have this ridiculously handy angled spatula it will literally be a doddle! Like seriously, this spatula is amazing - and sadly that's not the first time I've raved about it!

Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate 180 degrees and continue to bake for another 10 minutes. Whilst this is happening, please take part in the most important part of baking - licking the bowl. Please do so to your hearts content, as really you're helping yourself on the washing up front!

Once baked, it should look better than this picture above! I had a few issues with the baking tray I used, which had a dip all around the odd edge of my Blondie. I also accidentally poked a hole in it whilst it was still too hot - lesson learnt! You need to leave it in the tin till its completely cooled, and then according to the recipe chill in the fridge overnight before cutting into squares. I'm gonna level with you - I just ate a load of this (fatty!) and I only made it a few hours ago. It tasted amazinggg - so no biggie if you can't wait till morning! I'll report back if it tastes incredible tomorrow though!

The Sainsburys recipe does also include the calories per serving - but I'll refrain from giving you that information for your sakes! Let me know if you attempt either recipe - or if you baked anything for the start of the Great British Bake Off! I'm sure I'll bake some more throughout the series which I'll post on here :)